death_ which had been passed upon the race. It is evident that Adam and
Eve could not have fully understood the full meaning of the curse which
had been pronounced upon them. Spiritual death, consisting in a loss of
holiness and separation from God's favor, they had already suffered. And
they might have had some vague idea of that death which would close their
earthly life, and dissolve the body back to dust; but they could know very
little about it. They had never seen it. The death of animals offered in
sacrifice would help their conceptions very little. Anxiously they
questioned what more there was in the sentence which God had pronounced
upon them. Time wore along; their family increased: sons and daughters
grew up around them, and yet they had never witnessed an instance of
death. Perhaps they began to doubt whether there was any thing more in the
curse than what they had already suffered. With ruddy cheeks and growing
strength, their posterity increased for more than a century after the
fall. Their children's children smiled upon their knees. As yet they had
never seen a corpse; as yet the earth had not a single grave.
But from the blood of Abel there came a message of unutterable anguish,
which dispelled the faintest hope of escape from the threatened penalty.
Around his body, stretched on the bloody ground, gathered Adam and Eve and
their descendants, and there in heartrending agony and distraction gazed
on the dead man's ghastly features, and read in them the first lesson of
death. Yes, there was death!--death, which they had long talked about, and
wondered what it was--death, which they had never seen before: it had come
at last.
The awful revelation was before them. All doubt, all questioning about
their fatal doom was gone. The king of terrors had entered upon his
dominions, and set up his ghostly sceptre over every thing that breathed.
There was his first conquest.
And from that blood there went forth a voice which published to all the
living the execution of the curse. Henceforth all hope of escape must be
cut off. The work of death had now begun. Adam and all his race must
prepare to die.
2. The blood of Abel spoke of the deep and awful _depravity_ of human
nature consequent upon the fall. It showed that man's fallen nature was
early ripe for the most atrocious wickedness. The seeds of corruption
implanted in that nature required no long period of ages to bring forth
their fatal fruits. They developed themselves with most terrible rapidity.
The earliest crime on record in the history of the race, is of Titanic
proportions. Old as the world has grown in guilt, it has yet found nothing
to surpass it. Familiar as we are with its dark and dreary annals, its
oft-repeated chronicles of wickedness, there is not in them all a more
thrilling testimony to the deep and universal depravity of fallen nature,
than is uttered in that first cry of blood which went up from the ground
into the ear of God. It would seem as though man's darkened spirit could
not wait for death to begin his fatal work upon the species by what we now
call the natural course of sickness and disease, but he must himself chide
death with tardiness, and lift his own hand with murderous intent, and
slay his fellow.
The blood of Abel speaks not of Abel calmly yielding up his breath, while
his head lies peacefully on his mother's lap. It calls us to no softened
couch over which fond parents bend in agony, and catch the placid smile
which lingers on the countenance, and gather up the few rays of hope which
beam in the dying eye, and which seem to whisper that death may, after
all, be not so formidable a thing.
In no such way does it speak to us. But it is Abel murdered, Abel
stretched upon the cold ground, weltering in his blood, a mangled,
ghastly spectacle. And every clotted blade of grass, and every bloody
stone has found a tongue, and cries, "A brother's hand has done the
hellish deed." We stand aghast, and ask for no more appalling testimony to
the total depravity of the species. Try as we may to soften down the
hideousness of that depravity, after all our study to find something to
relieve the odiousness of that corruption which festers in the soul, there
is a voice in the earliest history of the race, a voice of blood which
mocks our arguments and banishes our cherished convictions.
3. The blood of Abel cries for _vengeance_. It was the only testimony the
Almighty produced when he summoned Cain to trial. The deed was done in
secret. No one saw it. No one heard the dying man's last groan. His lips
were sealed, his tongue was stiff and cold, and the murderer thought that
by a brazen and persistent denial of his crime, he could escape detection.
But though Abel could not testify, and no living man saw the uplifted hand
which smote him, still there were witnesses enough. Dumb things grew
eloquent, and the voice of blood published the foul deed to God and man.
From what we have read of the history of murderers, it would seem that
there was something more than a rhetorical figure in those words in
Genesis, which give a voice to the blood shed by violence. Hundreds and
thousands have heard such a voice. Often it amounts to nothing, that the
assassin has concealed his crime from his fellow-men, and can walk abroad
in the community with no suspicious eyes turned towards him. He is haunted
by something which keeps publishing his guilt. The ghastly visage of his
victim rises before him, and follows him. It shakes its gory locks at him,
crossing his path everywhere like an avenger who will not be appeased. Its
avenging cry rings in his ears. He starts at the sound of his own
footsteps. Every thing seems to echo it. The rustling of a leaf alarms
him. The murmuring waterfall tells the bloody tale; the winds wail it
through the air. It seems to him that all the world has found it out.
Inanimate things have grown articulate, and published it. He expects the
next man who meets him in the street will accuse him to his face. And not
unfrequent is it, that by the very alarm and uneasiness, the strange
anxiety and restlessness which he betrays, the eye of suspicion is turned
upon him, and a clue is furnished, which leads to the disclosure of his
crime.
This avenging cry of blood is the hardest thing in the world to silence.
It will not be appeased without the life of him who shed it. It is the
voice of retributive justice, speaking from the throne of God, and echoed
from the inner judgment-seat of the human conscience, demanding blood for
blood. It is an awful voice, which, for the first time, the world heard
when Abel's blood was shed.
But it is time we turned to listen to another voice to which the text
invites us. It is indeed the voice of blood; but it is a strange, a new
voice, which speaks a new language to the soul. It is the "blood of
sprinkling." The crucifixion of the Son of God was a most foul and
atrocious deed of blood: but in consequence of a special and extraordinary
arrangement by the Godhead, called the covenant of redemption, that blood
spilled on Calvary received a new significancy, and spoke better things
than blood had ever spoken before.
1. The blood of sprinkling speaks better things _to God_, than the blood
of Abel did. That blood cried unto God from the ground for vengeance, but
the blood of Christ sends aloft to the Almighty's throne a far different
testimony. It speaks to God of a full satisfaction made to his law and
justice for the sins of guilty men. It stands before the eternal Majesty,
and challenges the divine attributes of truth and holiness and justice to
say aught they can against the sinner's acquittal and acceptance. It holds
up before the glittering sword of justice the cleft side and dripping
hands of Jesus, and boldly asks, Is not this enough? It declares to God
that now it is consistent with himself and his righteous government to
pardon the transgressor, and extend to him the open hand of
reconciliation. It pleads for guilty sinners in the heavenly world, and
before the throne of Jehovah; and louder than the roll of the eternal
anthem, and the shoutings of the angelic choirs, its mighty and prevailing
voice is heard, "Spare him; for I have found a ransom." It bids mercy
reveal her lovely face, and sway her sceptre over a fallen, but now
redeemed world. Yes, the blood of sprinkling is heard in the highest
heaven. It speaks in the ear of God.
2. It speaks _to men_. It proclaims to them a new and living way of
approach to God. The apostle tells us, in the epistle to the Hebrews, that
this way is through the blood of Christ, and that Christ hath consecrated
this way to us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.
Before this new provision was made, the only way of acceptable approach to
God was through the covenant of works which required complete personal
obedience to the divine law. That way was closed. Sin broke it up, and man
had no possible means of repairing it. Another way must be discovered,
else we must remain under condemnation. The blood of sprinkling opens up a
new and living way. It speaks to men of pardon, and assures them that the
sacrifice of the cross was a full propitiation for their sins, which God
himself has approved. It declares to sinners, that now God can be just,
and the justifier of the ungodly; that it has done all that was necessary
to satisfy divine justice and avert the sentence of wrath which was over
them, and that the very God who before appeared to them as a consuming
fire, is now plenteous in mercy, and ready to forgive.
3. The blood of Christ speaks peace to the human _conscience_. Anxious as
the sinner may be to escape the penalty of his transgressions, his
conscience holds him to the conviction that that penalty must be endured;
for God, whatever else he be, must be a God of justice, and must insist
upon the sanctions of his law. Much as our selfish nature longs to escape
suffering for sin, the conscience sternly says it cannot be. That
suffering must be met. The penalty of transgression must be borne.
And now comes in the voice of blood, and says it has been borne, for the
dying Saviour was made a curse for us. His cruel sufferings were in the
stead of ours, and "on him was laid the iniquity of us all." Conscience
can now be at rest, for its claims are satisfied. There is peace through
the blood of the cross. The sinner may take refuge here from every
accusing voice, and cherish the sweet consciousness of forgiveness.
Again, it speaks of _inward cleansing_ from pollution. Under the Levitical
service, the sprinkling of blood was the symbol of purification. It
typified the effects of the blood of Christ. The soul that comes to it
experiences an inward renewing, and becomes the seat of gracious
affections, implanted by the Holy Spirit.
And lastly, it speaks of final and complete _salvation_ in the heavenly
world. It is the purchase price of redemption which God the Father has
already accepted from Christ his Son. It is all a sinner needs to enter
heaven. By it he is fully justified, and adopted into the family of God.
It fills the soul with joy and peace, and enables it to hope with
confidence for the future glory. It is the believer's title to eternal
life, which he can carry with him through the gates of death, and which
secures him a joyous welcome to the realms of purity and bliss, whither
the Forerunner has already gone to prepare mansions for his people.
Such is the language which the blood of sprinkling speaks. No other blood
ever spoke like it. No other voice has borne such tidings of great joy to
sinners. Turn your anxious ear to every quarter; go listen to the law; go
through the universe and summon all the voices which testify of the
Almighty, which bespeak his might and majesty, his wisdom and goodness,
and you listen in vain for any utterance of peace and hope and favor to a
sinner, like that which is proclaimed in the blood of Calvary. That voice
which breaks forth from the cross of Jesus is the apocalypse of the
world's redemption.
It is the voice of hope and salvation for a lost and guilty race. It
reverberates along the arches of the heavenly world, and calls forth a
smile of reconciliation on the face of the Almighty. It rolls over against
Sinai, and lo, the dark clouds scatter, and the lightnings cease to flash,
and the thunders grow still. It comes to the human soul burdened with
guilt and shame, and assures it of pardon, peace, and eternal life.
Thousands upon thousands have heard it, and gone to glory listening to it.
It is still speaking. It will keep on speaking till all the dwellers on
this earth shall hear it, and an innumerable company out of every kindred
and tribe and people shall be saved by it.
I conclude with the solemn words of caution with which the apostle follows
up the text: "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh."
There are many calls in the world which we may well refuse to listen to.
Many are crying, Lo here, and, Lo there, whom we may refuse to follow.
There are many teachings in the various departments of science and history
which are interesting and profitable subjects of study; but we may remain
in ignorance of them without materially affecting our well being for time
or for eternity.
It is not so with this voice which speaks to us in the blood of a
crucified Saviour. Here are utterances which it well becomes every man to
hear and study. It will not do, sinner, to turn away from it. It is a
voice of authority and power. It tells of the inexorable work of divine
justice, of the stern exactions of God's violated law. It tells of an
expiation for your sins, of deliverance from the wrath to come. It
publishes hope and salvation to the guilty and the lost, pardon and
reconciliation with your offended God. It invites you to trust your guilty
soul upon the Saviour, to come with godly sorrow for all your
transgressions, and accept of God's free grace in a Redeemer. It assures
you that your God, against whom you have sinned, is now ready to forgive;
that his hand of mercy is reached out to you, and heaven and eternal life
are open to you. Oh, hear it; it is the only hope left for you. In all the
universe there is no voice like it, which can bring peace and comfort to
your soul. Oh, hear it. Though other voices call loudly to you, and
importune you; though the world besets you, and business, pleasure,
wealth, and honor clamor in your ears; though pride and passion and sinful
lusts cry out, and seek to drown its utterances, still turn your ear to
the cross, and seek salvation in the atonement which is published there.
For, ah, if you "refuse Him that speaketh," you must perish. You have, in
so doing, thrust away from you the only provision which has ever been made
to save you from wrath to come. You close behind you the door of
reconciliation which the Son of God has opened. You trample under foot the
only flag of truce which heaven has sent down to this revolted province.
You put an end to all further negotiations for peace, and you rush on the
thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler. Oh, pause, we beseech you. Stop before
you reject the great salvation. Come and listen a while to what the blood
of Jesus says. Ponder it well before you turn away. Take into account the
consequences of its rejection, and see if you can well afford to refuse
its blessings.
IV.
Christians God's Temples.
KNOW YE NOT THAT YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, AND THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD
DWELLETH IN YOU? 1 COR. 3:16.
The frequency with which the apostles speak of Christians under the figure
of a temple, is worthy of special notice. In the sixth chapter of this
epistle, Paul calls our bodies the temple of the Holy Ghost. In the second
epistle, he calls believers the temple of the living God, in whom God
dwells. In Ephesians he describes them as a great building, upon Christ
the corner-stone, fitly framed together, growing unto a holy temple in the
Lord.
The apostle Peter, also addressing Christians, says, "Ye also, as lively
stones, are built up a spiritual house;" and Jude in his epistle exhorts
them to build themselves up on their most holy faith, and keep themselves
in the love of God.
The figure of a temple was a common and favorite one with the apostles.
Two reasons may be assigned for this.
It was easily understood by those whom they addressed. The Christian
converts, whether at Corinth, at Philippi, or at Rome, were familiar with
these structures. In almost every city of Asia Minor and the whole Roman
empire, their massive columns and lofty domes adorned their streets, and
invited them to the worship of the gods. The sacred temple of the true God
at Jerusalem also was not unknown to those who were scattered over Asia
Minor. Many of the early converts in those parts were of Jewish
extraction, and were well acquainted with the temple service at Jerusalem.
The figure of a temple was a familiar one, and universally understood by
the early Christians.
A second reason for its frequent use in the New Testament is its
appropriateness and significancy. The apostles employ it to present
Christians in their peculiar position and obligations. It is a most
suggestive figure, sometimes applied to Christians individually, at other
times to them as a body, the church fitly framed together, and growing
unto a holy temple in the Lord.
1. The temples of antiquity were most _costly_ structures. Seldom were
they erected out of the fortunes of any private individual; the resources
of an empire were often spent upon them. The contributions of all the
cities of Greece were expended on the famous temple at Delphi; its
gorgeous shrines were thickly overlaid with gold, and within its walls
were gathered the choicest statuary, and all the combined wonders which
art could furnish.
At Rome, the magnificent temple of Jupiter shone with the gilding of more
than 12,000 talents, while upon its foundation alone was expended thirty
thousand pounds weight of silver.
Ancient Athens exhausted her wealth and the sublimest achievements of art
upon those vast and imposing structures built in honor of the gods. The
Parthenon, rising in majestic splendor on the brow of the Acropolis,
dazzled the eyes of the beholder. Every thoroughfare boasted of some
splendid pile. In the age of Pericles, the vast treasures of Greece, the
finest marbles from the Parian quarries, the chisel of Phidias and the
pencil of Zeuxis, the brass and ivory and gold and ebony and cypress from
many lands, were all employed upon those structures which rendered Athens
the wonder of the world.
The temple of God at Jerusalem also was built at vast expense. The nation
brought their gifts. No private individual was able to construct it.
And are not Christians like the ancient edifices, in the cost which has
been incurred in their behalf? Does not the apostle justify this point of
comparison when, after saying that our bodies are the temple of the Holy
Ghost, he immediately adds, "for ye are bought with a price?" In
estimating what it cost to make a human soul, ruined and defiled, into a
spiritual temple for God, we cannot enter into any arithmetical
calculations of dollars and cents; for says the apostle, "Ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold." But we must
speak of a great expenditure, a mighty outlay which has been incurred. To
build the soul's ruins into a temple is a grander, costlier work, than to
build the Parthenon. Man could build the latter, but God alone could build
the former. And even for him to do it, required a new and special
administration, and the sacrifice of his only Son.
In constructing these spiritual temples, the eternal Son left the realms
of glory, and became "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He was
rich, but he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be rich. To
compute the cost of this work, you must take the measure of that infinite
sacrifice which the Lord Jesus has made for you: tell what it was to leave
the throne of heaven, and become a man on earth; to obey the broken law
and bear its curse; to die in agony upon the cross. To compute the cost,
you must reckon up the value of that blood which was shed on Calvary, and
of the mighty agency of the Holy Spirit which is actually employed in
restoring and refitting the human soul.
There is no earthly calculus which can furnish the true answer. There are
no corruptible things, such as silver and gold, which can be weighed
against the precious blood of the Son of God. Yet this was the price paid
for your redemption. This is what these Christian temples cost--temples
which the world cares little for, but temples growing beautiful to the eye
of God, around whose portals angels hover as ministering spirits, to bear
aloft to the throne the prayers which are breathed within them.
2. A temple is remarkable for its _durability_. It is not like a tent, or
a tabernacle, pitched for a short season, and then taken down. The
materials which are used, and the manner of their construction, show that
it will endure. The temples of antiquity were built for ages. Plutarch,
when speaking of those of Athens, says, "Now they are old, they have the
freshness of a modern building. A bloom is diffused over them which
preserves their aspect untarnished by time, as if they were animated with
a spirit of perpetual youth and unfading elegance."
Those sacred structures, so familiar to the early Christians, stood
unchanged while generations passed away. Time seemed to pass them by,
while men and all their other works mouldered under his touch.
How aptly does this suggest to us the imperishable nature of that work
which the Holy Spirit carries on in the temple of the human soul. It is no
ephemeral work. Every Christian coworking with God, is working for
eternity. That soul which has become a temple, will stand the changes of
time, and the floods of temptation. The world cannot demolish it. It is a
work of grace. And where God has begun it, he will carry it on to the day
of redemption.
The durability of a temple also symbolizes the imperishable nature of the
church, the great house which God is building in the world. It shall
advance till the world shall end. Other institutions wear out. Colossal
edifices of state totter and fall, and the wrecks of mighty dynasties lie
strewn along the centuries. But while every thing else grows old, the
church of God endures. The great house grows greater; spiritual builders
are at work, in our own and in other lands, quarrying out new stones, and
polishing them, and setting them in the walls. Many a time have its
enemies battered it, and threatened to lay it in heaps; but the gates of
hell have not prevailed against it; it endures; it still rises; column
after column is added to it; it will rise till frieze and cornice and arch
and dome are finished, and the top-stone shall be set with shoutings of
Grace, grace unto it. The church, the great temple of God, shall stand.
3. The temples of antiquity were distinguished by their _beauty of
proportion and perfection_. The Greeks and Romans employed the genius of
their master artisans and their finest sculptors. All that the highest
skill and taste and cultivation could do was profusely lavished on those
immortal works of art; and the results produced were those models of
architectural strength and symmetry which succeeding ages, with all their
boasted progress, have not excelled. Unity of design, the adjustment of
many parts in one harmonious whole, each part fitted to its appropriate
place, with nothing left out and nothing superfluous, but all united to
produce an impression of beauty and harmony on the mind of the
beholder--these were the characteristic excellences of those grand old
temples to which the apostle compares Christians in our text.
They too are temples in the harmony and proportion of that character which
the Holy Ghost builds up within them. Christian character is symmetrical.
Like a stately temple, it combines many parts. Faith, love, humility,
patience, meekness, hope, endurance, forgiveness, courage, zeal--all these
are the materials which constitute the spiritual edifice. But distinct as
they are, they together make one consistent character.